The night passed quietly. When Priscilla woke up, the rain had stopped and small sunbeams cut through the forest’s canopy. She tried to shake off the nightmare of Illnyea dying that decided to grace her dreams. Priscilla told herself that she was almost back to Meadowyar and once she was there, she could strong arm the parents into telling her where the caravan was on its journey. They should have arrived at Harosaw City by now, but Priscilla didn’t know how long they were staying there before returning home.

  Her shoes hadn’t fully dried and Priscilla resigned herself to wearing slightly soggy boots, hoping she didn’t get too many blisters if she wore thick enough socks. Discomfort was secondary when it meant Priscilla could see Illnyea sooner and make sure she was okay.

  Priscilla’s bond with Asha wasn’t as muted in the morning, and she took a moment to check in with her artifact with the excuse she had to go to the bathroom.

  “I’m okay, master,” Asha whispered. “I… the rock just stirred up emotions within me but I’m doing better now.”

  “Do you think you can talk about it?” Priscilla asked, glancing over her shoulder. “I can just tell them I had to take a shit to explain my absence if you’d like to vent out some of those emotions.”

  Humor sparked in their bond, but Asha said, “I think I need a little more time, if that’s okay, master.”

  “Of course, Asha,” Priscilla said. Though she dearly wanted to know more, Priscilla was committed to being a good friend to Asha and good friends don’t keep poking at their friend’s obvious trauma just because they were curious.

  Since the surrounding forest was so quiet, Sulaiman agreed to let Priscilla briefly examine the ruined inn. But she couldn’t find any other of the strange rocks, which was disappointing and relieving in equal measure because it painted a clearer picture of what happened. Rather than having toads appear in multiple areas at once, it appeared they sent a wave of toads from just one central point. If the summoning was triggered during dinnertime, the cult had certainly picked the best place to kill as many people at once even if there was a cool down between summons.

  Sulaiman declared the crossbow bolts they used yesterday a lost cause, though Priscilla did insist on taking a trophy from the toads so people would believe they killed them. They ended up taking three claws from the toad who died near the inn, as it was the only corpse that wasn’t covered in poison. The claws were half a foot in length, about two inches wide, and razor sharp, so they cleaned them very carefully.

  Kavil didn’t seem to know what to think about his new trinket, holding it delicately.

  “You like whittling, right?” Priscilla asked.

  Kavil nodded slowly, though he looked confused at the sudden question.

  “Have you ever wanted to try carving?” Priscilla continued. “I know it isn’t the same thing, but that claw gives you plenty of material to work with if the fancy ever strikes you. And if you don’t, well, you could always wield it like a dagger and threaten someone with it.”

  Kavil let out a startled laugh before saying, “If we can find tools to carve with, I might try that, but I’ll leave the threatening to you and Sulaiman since you two are so much better at it.”

  “You could be very intimidating if you wanted to,” Priscilla said, which made Kavil laugh and Sulaiman snorted, giving her a glance like Priscilla was being more ridiculous than usual. She let them think her words were just a silly encouragement rather than the fact she knew they were. By the end of The Destined Ending, Kavil had been a force to reckon with, one that their enemies hesitated about facing.

  (There was a reason that out of all the cult’s minions, Priscilla feared facing the Blind Healer most of all, more than the man that was destined to kill her – when the Blind Healer entered the battlefield, the world became a sea of blood and muscle as one touch from her peeled back the flesh from your bones.)

  (The only person that had been able to go against her was Kavil, and the battle between them was one that made Priscilla’s stomach queasy just remembering it, even though Kavil ended up the last one standing in the end.)

  They traveled faster today, as Priscilla was fairly confident they had dealt with most of the toads last night, and the lack of poison they encountered lent credence to that theory. The tension that had surrounded them yesterday dissolved like it never existed as they quietly chatted with one another.

  Priscilla was able to convince Sulaiman to teach Kavil the lyrics to the Dread Dragon Drachma traveling song as a way to pass the time.

  After Sulaiman finished singing the basic verse the song built on, Kavil leaned forward on his horse, eyes sparkling as he said, “You have a beautiful voice, Sulaiman!”

  Priscilla was fascinated to watch Sulaiman’s cheeks flush as he averted his gaze.

  “It’s nothing special,” Sulaiman muttered. Kavil got a look in his eye like he wanted to argue, but Sulaiman continued as he straightened, saying, “Now it’s your turn.”

  Kavil rolled his eyes and then repeated the verse word for word, his voice animated and mellifluous as Kavil threw himself into the silliness of the song without restraint. Priscilla wasn’t surprised at how nice his singing voice was because it wasn’t that different from his speaking voice, but Sulaiman seemed startled, staring without saying anything long enough after Kavil finished speaking that Priscilla couldn’t help but intervene.

  “That was wonderful, Kavil!” Priscilla said, never one to let the awkward silence linger.

  “Thanks,” Kavil said, perking up. “We sing a lot of work-songs back home, and although you guys didn’t get to see it, a lot of our celebrations and ceremonies involve singing too!”

  “You’ll have to teach us of your favorites when we have the time,” Priscilla said, glancing at Sulaiman and rolling her eyes when she saw he was still unmoving. “If we’re any good at singing together, let’s forget this whole adventuring thing and become traveling bards!”

  That was enough to finally shock Sulaiman out of his stupor so he could glare at her.

  “Absolutely not,” Sulaiman said.

  Kavil chuckled, “I don’t know, it sounds like a great idea to me. A good way to make some coin at least!”

  “We’d get the audience screaming our names in no time,” Priscilla said, grinning. “We’d just have to make sure our fans don’t fall too in love with us with our insane charisma.”

  Sulaiman glare evolved into a glower, and Priscilla wolf-whistled.

  “Yeah, just like that, Sulaiman,” Priscilla said, just barely able to keep the laughter out of her voice. “You’d get all the ladies begging for an encore so you can glare intensely at them for just a little while longer and then our purses will be as fat as a rich lady’s cat.”

  Sulaiman didn’t seem to know what to do with that statement as Kavil laughed, the sound bright and piercing as he wiped a tear from his eyes.

  “His glare can be quite charming,” Kavil said in between giggles. “I can see the appeal.”

  Sulaiman gave Kavil a look of utter betrayal.

  “Oh don’t look so sad, Sulaiman,” Priscilla cooed, “it’s good thing you’re so beautiful – you’ll make us sooo much money.”

  Sulaiman looked like he wanted to be anywhere but here as Kavil and Priscilla dissolved into laughter while they kept planning out their future as bards.

  The day’s travel passed by without encountering any of the forest’s inhabitants, save for the sharp toothed squirrel Priscilla had seen the first time they traveled through the Emerald Forest. The squirrel snuck into a bird’s nest and then it was a quick and violent end for the chicks who lived there and the squirrel left victorious, dragging its prey with it. Priscilla made a mental note to search through the mammal section of her bestiary because that squirrel was fascinating.

  Things did get a little tense as they approached where the rest station was supposed to be. But instead of devastation, what met Priscilla’s eyes as they came around the bend was a wooden wall. It was nearly ten feet high, with thick spikes at the top that discouraged anything from trying to jump over it. There were a few obvious peepholes for guards to look through, though those were covered at the moment. Priscilla spotted a section that appeared to be an entrance, but that was blocked by a large, flat piece of wood that looked difficult to move from this side of the wall.

  “Hello there,” Priscilla called when they drew close enough she didn’t have to yell, straining her ears for any signs of other people. She was fairly certain that if the toads had come this way, this wall wouldn’t have done much to stop them as the poison would quickly make its existence a moot point.

  There were the sounds of someone shifting behind the wall and then one of the peepholes was unblocked with a thunk. A pair of blue eyes stared at Priscilla.

  Priscilla put on her very best charming smile as she moved the horse closer.

  “Heya,” Priscilla said, “is there any chance my companions and I could rent out a room or two tonight?”

  The blue eyes flicked between her and the boys, widening when they saw Sulaiman, and then narrowing when they returned to Priscilla.

  “What are you doing traveling these roads?” The voice was gravely and Priscilla assumed it belonged to the pair of eyes.

  “We’re headed back home to Meadowyar,” Priscilla said, “so we just need to spend the night and then we’ll be on our way in the morning.”

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  The blue eyes narrowed further. “And you came from Barrowton?”

  Priscilla pushed away her annoyance that the guard was asking so many questions and decided to cut to the chase, guessing why they was so suspicious.

  “Yup,” Priscilla said cheerfully, “and we fucked up a whole pack of the toads that destroyed the other way station as well!”

  She pulled out her trophy and waved the claw in front of the peephole.

  “The ones that got away should die soon due to their wounds,” Priscilla continued with a bright smile as the blue eyes grew wide, “but you probably should let the king know there might be a few still hopping about when he sends people to clean up the inn. It was an absolute fucking mess with poison everywhere, but get some fire and earth mages and things will be good as new in no time!

  “Now,” Priscilla said, tilting her head as she twirled the claw in her fingers, “can we come in or do we have to sleep out in the cold tonight after such a harrowing battle?”

  It turned out that a few mercenaries had been staying at this rest station when the letters went out that there was danger further in the forest. So the innkeeper had decided to hire them for protection until the king sent his men to deal with the monsters. The mercenaries were the ones who helped put up the wall around the clearing, after a merchant who dealt with carpenters generously donated some of his excess stock to build it with.

  The blue eyes they met at the gate belonged to a stocky woman named Bertha, who was the second in command for the mercenaries. Bertha still eyed them with suspicion, but Priscilla ignored the woman and the other mercenaries best she could, ever aware that any one of them could be one of the Mercenary King’s subordinates. Priscilla had already made their party memorable by announcing they killed the toads, so she hoped to not give them any other reason to pay more attention to them.

  The innkeeper actually recognized Priscilla and Sulaiman when they walked in from the last time they were here, the man’s whole face brightening as Bertha reluctantly relayed their toad slaying tale.

  “Please, please, come sit,” the innkeeper insisted, bringing their party to the dining room. “We’ll have something – Gary heat up the soup! – ready in just a few minutes.”

  Priscilla was bemused by the innkeeper’s reaction, though she could tell Sulaiman was distinctly uncomfortable, so she made sure to stick him in between her and Kavil when they sat down.

  It seemed there weren’t many people who had been staying at the inn when they went into lockdown, and they all seemed to congregate in the dining room when Priscilla was served dinner. There was a couple who seemed unable to part for even a moment, the merchant and his aides, an old man whose walking stick was nearly as tall as him, and the mercenary company, which was about ten people strong.

  Priscilla could see it in the way the other inn’s occupants’ eyes kept straying towards them that they were hungry for information about the situation in the forest. They had the stifled air of people who had spent too long indoors and were itching for something to grab their attention.

  So Priscilla did what she did best and made herself the center of attention so the boys could enjoy their warm meal without interruption. She started the story solemnly, telling the room of the ruined inn to set the mood, but skipping the discovery of the summoning stone.

  “So picture this,” Priscilla said, dipping a piece of her bread in the soup, “I’m sitting on the stable’s stool in my nightgown, shoes off because they were soaked, and I was finally relaxing to the sound of the rain and then–”

  Priscilla took a dramatic pause, her audience drawing closer.

  “The loudest fucking croak I’ve ever heard cut through the air,” Priscilla said, “and I could see the Gorelock Toads making their way out of the forest, heading right to the stables.”

  The wife gasped as did several of the merchant’s aides.

  “So I wake up my boys –” Priscilla gestured towards them with her head and Kavil gave a half-hearted smile as he took a bite of soup while Sulaiman ignored everything as he drowned his bread in his bowl, “–and then I had to come up with a plan to deal with them on the fly because we were just three people with a crossbow, sword, and dagger between us facing nine of those toad fuckers.”

  Priscilla glossed over the specifics of what happened and the magic used, focusing on what her audience wanted to hear – that the monsters they had been living in fear of for the past few days were now dead. Even Bertha’s suspicions seemed to fade as Priscilla spun her tale of how they took down the pack with only two shots.

  By the time she finished speaking, the atmosphere in the inn had lightened into a hopeful one and the boys had finished eating.

  Priscilla shoved the last of the bread in her mouth, waving off her audience’s insistence she stay and socialize, saying apologetically, “Sorry, my party and I are tired. Last night may not have been a mighty battle, but we had to fight Dappled Hyenas and a moose before that so we need a good night’s rest.”

  Mentioning the hyenas had Priscilla promising to tell the story tomorrow morning if they had time so she could finally leave the dining room behind her.

  The innkeeper decided to waive their room fees for completing a ‘heroic duty,’ which Priscilla wasn’t going to complain about.

  The three of them ended up in the boys’ room after dinner and Priscilla let out a relieved groan as she melted into the couch.

  “You’re a good storyteller,” Kavil said as he put his pack on his bed. “You had them nearly eating out of your palm.”

  Priscilla gave him a tired smile. “Thanks. They wanted a story, so I figured I’d give them one since they’ve been stuck here for gods know how long.”

  “You’ve…”

  Priscilla tilted her head over the back of the couch to stare at Sulaiman, who had trailed off while speaking.

  “Yes…?” Priscilla asked, half-regretting the motion but she was committed.

  Sulaiman just shook his head, annoyingly not finishing his sentence. Priscilla rolled her eyes but didn’t press, sitting up properly.

  “I’m excited to see Meadowyar in the flesh!” Kavil said, pulling out his sleeping outfit. “Is it true the city is surrounded by flowers?”

  “Yes, and no,” Sulaiman said, which was a good thing because Priscilla hadn’t spent that long in the city and only had the limited knowledge from the book to work with. “The northern half of the city does have meadows surrounding it, but the southern meadows have been turned into orchards to make it easier for trade to come in and out.”

  Kavil’s eyes sparkled as he asked, "So, what’s the plan for tomorrow?"

  “We’ll be sure to let you see the meadows when we have time, Kavil,” Priscilla said, “but we’ll be getting there in the evening, so the view won’t be great.”

  Kavil visibly readjusted his expectations, which was adorable, and asked, “What else is on the agenda?”

  Priscilla hesitated and then casually said, “Well, I’ll be checking on the merchant caravan Illnyea was traveling with to see how long it’ll be until they arrive. If they’re not far off, we can maybe go meet them after we rest up.”

  She could feel the way Sulaiman’s focus centered on her, could perfectly imagine the way his black eyes narrowed in suspicion, but Priscilla ignored it to smile at Kavil.

  “I’m excited to meet her!” Kavil said, sitting on the edge of the bed. A pensive look fell over his face as he asked, “Do you think she’ll like me?”

  “‘Course she will,” Priscilla said. “You’ve charmed Sulaiman just fine, haven’t you? Illnyea’s a lot easier to get along with.”

  Kavil snorted, then covered his smile as he glanced at something behind Priscilla.

  A shadow fell over Priscilla and when she tilted her head back to look up, she bumped into a toned stomach. Sulaiman was glaring down at her, arms crossed.

  “It sounds like we should stop by the guard’s training arena,” Sulaiman said slowly and Priscilla shivered at his low tone, “to see if they have an open time slot so we can get you started on sword training.”

  Priscilla blanched.

  “I look forward to seeing you train!” Kavil added helpfully but Priscilla could hear the mischief in his voice as he continued, “I’m sure I’ll be impressed by how quickly you learn.”

  Priscilla saw no way out and leaned further into Sulaiman as she sighed.

  “How many times are you going to knock me on my ass?” Priscilla asked, dread filling her voice.

  “Enough so the lesson sinks in,” Sulaiman replied, a sadistic spark in his eyes as he leaned forward. “Don’t worry, I won’t kill you.”

  Sulaiman paused, smirking in a way that made Priscilla fear her entire body would be one giant bruise when he was done with her. (She pointedly ignored how close Sulaiman’s face was and the way his deep voice made her toes curl because she could feel it reverberating through her.)

  “At least not on purpose.”

  Priscilla turned her face away nonchalantly (she was not running away from his unfairly attractive gaze, damnit!) and muttered, “If you kill me, you have to explain to Illnyea why we can’t travel together.”

  She could feel Sulaiman’s laughter rumble within him and Priscilla had had enough of that sensation – she leaned forward and gathered up her own pack as Kavil’s laughter joined Sulaiman’s.

  “Good night you menaces,” Priscilla said, flipping her hair over her shoulder as the boys echoed the sentiment.

  Priscilla spent the rest of her evening quietly reading to Asha about the fauna that lived near Harosaw City after her artifact indicated it wasn’t ready to talk about what happened yesterday. They learned about the migratory bison that hung around the city this time of year.

  “Windswept Bison are huge and have a minor talent with wind magic,” Priscilla said. “This magic kicks up small windstorms while they run that help keep predators away. Harosaw City is actually nicknamed the Windstorm City because of these bison, and when the bison leave for the season, it marks the beginning of autumn and the city holds a harvest festival.”

  Priscilla paused at the end of the bison’s entry, a sudden thought striking her.

  “Hey, Asha,” Priscilla said, “would you like me to teach you how to read sometime?”

  “Yes,” Asha said quickly, their bond filling with eagerness. “Yes, please, master.”

  Priscilla chuckled. “As soon as we have privacy and time, I promise I’ll teach you. But for now…”

  Priscilla rifled through her pack and pulled out a pencil and paper, writing down four letters.

  “This is your name, Asha,” Priscilla said, bringing the artifact close. Asha didn’t have eyes but it still felt right as Asha swelled with pride.

  “It’s beautiful,” Asha said. “Thank you so much for giving it to me.”

  “You don’t have to thank me for that,” Priscilla said, settling back onto the bed, “not when it’s something you always deserved to have.”

  They both fell into contemplative silence as Priscilla put the book and writing tools away.

  “I hope your sister is okay, master,” Asha said as Priscilla snuffed out the lamp.

  Priscilla let out a long sigh as she laid on the bed, staring at the dark ceiling.

  “Me too, Asha,” Priscilla said, mind drifting to the nightmare from this morning and the sense of helplessness that haunted her. “Me too.”